Lettering, Calligraphy and Typography. What’s the difference?

October 13, 2017

written by
Lance

Imagine you want a potato but you ask for a tomato, what would you do? Lettering, Calligraphy, and Typography, these terms are usually used interchangeably, but if you look closer they are not the same, so today we are going to learn what’s the difference between them.

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is the art of writing by hand, the calligrapher has to develop this skill through constant practice to develop muscle memory and this usually takes a lot of discipline, practice and time.

Since we are visual creatures, here is a beautiful video by Matthew Vergotis where he is creating amazing calligraphy pieces.

Lettering

Lettering is the art of drawing, the letterer creates custom artwork that is intended for one configuration only, either a word or a piece. The main focus is only on this one composition of letters, the letterer can either start from scratch using a pencil or using different tools (pens, brushes etc.) to start with then, later on, tweak or redraw the artwork depending on his needs.

Examples of lettering pieces

By Tyrsa “Alexis Taïeb”

By Tyrsa “Alexis Taïeb”, Doyald Young and Jessica Hische.

Typography

Typography is the art of arranging and laying out type, it’s what you see now and every day on your screen.

Designing type is very time-consuming, type designers work in a system where there is a lot of constraints and a ton of refinements to do, some typefaces take years before being released commercially.

Another thing to know, type designers create typography, while graphic designers use that typography in their design work.

In a nutshell

It’s important to know the differences between lettering, calligraphy, and typography. You have to know what you are talking about when interacting with other people and share the knowledge if there is a confusion.